


It's All in the Phrasing

by demonmuffinman



Category: Supernatural
Genre: 9.10, Gen, Road Trip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-15
Updated: 2014-01-15
Packaged: 2018-01-08 20:03:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1136800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonmuffinman/pseuds/demonmuffinman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An alternative take on how Road Trip could have ended. Crowley keeps his arrangements and so does Dean, in his own way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's All in the Phrasing

**Author's Note:**

> I penned this not long after 9.09, before the synopsis of 9.11 was out, and I course did nothing with it for a month. Non beta'd, please forgive my grammar and/or wandering tenses, it's been a dark age since I've written more than a grocery list.

"Well, now that’s taken care of," Crowley said, watching Dean and Castiel fret about an unconscious and angel-free Sam. "Moose is all by himself in his noggin, safe and sound. Nothing your angel can’t fix, at least," he amended at Dean’s murderous look. "I believe that’s my cue? I’ve held up my end of the bargain."

 

Dean and Castiel exchanged a look and Crowley carefully kept the apprehension off his face. ”Really, Castiel? Remember what happened last time you stabbed me in the back?”

 

Castiel’s lips thinned and he looked away but Dean’s face remained unchanged. Crowley gritted his teeth, unable to shed the tension rising at their hesitance. He’d spent long months chained up in this shitbox and he refused to be reshackled without leaving a few scars. “You might want to reconsider your options here, Squirrel. This doesn’t change the situation up top. From what I gathered from the angel wearing your brother, you’ve got your hands full with renegade angels recently evicted from Heaven. Nice job on that, by the way,” he added, tipping his head towards Castiel. The angel narrowed his eyes but said nothing and Crowley continued over Dean’s angry noises. “Point is, you’ve got a lot on your plate. I could help with that.”

 

Dean scoffed. “Right, and you’d be doing this out of the goodness of your little black heart?”

 

"That, and a deep and burning desire to crush a certain Knight of Hell beneath my heel. Forget about her, did you?" He said, crowing inwardly at Dean’s suddenly tightened jaw. "You have no idea what you’re up against and I’m the only one who knows how to take her down. You need me."

 

"And we should care who runs Hell why, exactly?" Dean asked, folding his arms.

 

"Because I doubt you want a Lucifer loyalist on the throne anymore than I do!" Crowley snarled. Dean and Castiel frowned simultaneously before exchanging another heavy look. Crowley allowed himself a modicum of optimism; he might get out of here yet.

 

"Besides," he said, grinning. "Better the devil you know, right?"

 

The angel and the hunter retreated to exchange hushed whispers and heated looks beforeDean huffed out a frustrated breath and turned to the demon still trapped in the circle before them. “You’re right,” he said begrudgingly, ignoring Crowley’s satisfied smile. “Abaddon’s too dangerous to have free run topside, and if she’s as powerful as you two have been telling me we’re gonna need all the help we can get to take her out.”

 

Crowley raised an expectant brow, gesturing with his manacled hands to the devil’s trap at his feet. “Do we have a deal, then?”

 

"Yeah, not quite," said Dean, crossing the room to retrieve a familiar black roll.

 

Crowley stared as he selected the first syringe. “You… You can’t be serious,” Dean ignored him as he slid the needle into his arm and slowly began to fill it with dark red blood. “You can’t- You stupid- Are you out of your bleeding mind? Planet covered in stab-happy angels, an original KNIGHT OF HELL running loose, and you’re going to bloody NEUTER ME?”

 

"The only leverage we have on you is your freedom and we loose that if we just let you go," said Dean. "Human, you’ve got a lot more to loose and you’ll still have the info we need. Plus, as a bonus, you won’t be able to go around killing everyone we’ve ever known."

 

"I’m sorry, Crowley," Castiel said. "But we can’t allow you free as you are. There’s too much blood on your hands."

 

"You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?" Crowley said bitterly. Castiel simply looked a him sadly and stood back as Dean approached with the first vial of blood. The demon backed away as far as the trap would allow. He cast about desperately for assistance, but Sam was unconscious, Kevin was dead, and God had long stopped listening. "Damn you Winchester, we had a DEAL!"

 

"Yeah, we did," said Dean from the edge of the trap. "I’m not gonna risk killing you and sending you downstairs to let Abaddon wring out everything you know about us. You’ll eventually walk out of here a free man, like you said. A free human."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure how I'd feel about a redemption arc for Crowley but I think it would be hella cool to see him struggle with human emotions and limitation. Comment, tell me what you think?


End file.
